


to strengthen whilst one stands

by tielan



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Backstory, Family, Gen, Pre-Canon, Tales From Year Zero
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-01
Updated: 2015-01-01
Packaged: 2018-03-04 15:50:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3073511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tielan/pseuds/tielan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Family is not an important thing; it is everything. ~ Michael J Fox ~</p>
            </blockquote>





	to strengthen whilst one stands

**Author's Note:**

> So, I'm late. Really painfully late. I'm so sorry about this, [tinyrats](http://tinyrats.tumblr.com), but I just couldn't get my brain together quite fast enough to have this done by the deadline.
> 
> I hope it suits!

On Kodiak Island, the quarters are very simple. Not bleak like the orphanage in Japan, just...very simple. Clean lines and simple furnishings. Not quite impersonal; rather, as though waiting for the imprint of _sensei’s_ personality.

(Later, Mako will learn a new word from Hansen- _san_ : _Spartan_.  
When she understands the underlying meaning, it makes sense – they are at war, after all.)

Within an hour of their arrival, _sensei_ is called upon to give the introductory speech to the Academy class. Mako stands in the wings of the auditorium, watching _sensei_ as he tells them the blunt facts. They are here because they have the possibility to stand on the frontline of the war against the _kaiju_. That they’re here speaks well of them, but it only gets harder after this.

Mako listens as though she’s one of the candidates. In a way, she is.

(“Will you teach me?”

“Maybe someday.”)

When she brings the tea to the table, _sensei_ looks up from the class lists. “ _You made English tea?_ ”

Mako sets the tray down so suddenly, the cream jug rattles, sudden anxiety filling her. There was both English and Japanese tea in the cupboards, but she thought that _sensei_ would prefer the tea of his country. “ _Should I not?_ ”

His hand comes out and touches her wrist – carefully, as though she is fragile. “ _English tea is fine._ ”

(Many years later, after Pitfall, Mako blinks when Raleigh places a tray at her elbow one afternoon:  
English tea in a pot, cream in a jug, a sugarbowl, and two mugs.)

Kodiak Island is a strange mix of people – all ages, all nations, all colours, all creeds. All humanity, bundled together, rubbing elbows, and learning to live with each other.

Those who cannot do not last long.

Hundreds of students fail the subsequent technical and psychological tests to become Jaeger pilots, and although many shift into the Technical or Operations strands, many leave.

Nine students are sent away for ‘behaviour unbecoming the Academy’.

(The phrases thrown at _sensei_ have little meaning for Mako, but the tone of the insults is clear enough,   
even if Sergio D’onofrio had not threatened to throw them out on their ear.

“Well,” says _sensei_ afterwards as he sits back in his chair with grim exhaustion. “That was fun.”)

The Wei Tang are bright, charming young men – a favourite with many. They are also favourites to pilot one of the about-to-be-released Mark IVs. And favourites with Mako, who they decide is the perfect age, height, and background for them to adopt.

By which they mean ‘lean on, poke, tease, bring gifts, and embarrass’.

“If they annoy you too much, tell them to go away,” Dr. Lightcap advises one day when Mako comes to see her work on the triple-PONS system that is being made for the Weis. “Sure, they’re mischief incarnate, and I swear half my grey hairs are because of them, but they’re good boys, too.”

(Hu gives her the nickname of ‘little goddess’:  
“Chang’e, cool and bright, and too clever for her own good,” he laughs.)

The man is small and wiry, the woman is slim and sleek, but they walk in perfect synchronicity in that way that pilots do.

 _Sensei_ greets them with a formal nod of the head, before he grins and thrusts out his hand. “Duc, Kaori.”

Duc hauls him into a back-slapping hug. “We heard about Tam and Tokyo. And that you’re now into cradle-snatching.”

Kaori slaps him on the back of the head. The physicality of it makes Mako stare. “So inappropriate!” Then she turns to Mako. “ _You are looked after here? Pentecost-san is mindful of your comfort?_ ”

It takes Mako a moment to asnwer. While people are polite and friendly, there have been few who asked after her so specifically “ _Yes,_ ” she says around the lump in her throat.

(“We heard about Tam, Stacks. Fuck, we’re sorry.”

“Could’ve happened to any of us. Might still yet.”)

“These are the first movements of the Kwoon,” _sensei_ says, his feet bare where he stands planted on the Kwoon floor. “We’re looking for the ability to predict your co-pilot’s moves. A high degree of psycholinguistic synchronisation generally means a high percentile probability of Drift compatibility.”

Mako knows; she’s listened to the talks by the various instructors, watched the Academy students as they moved through the physical exercises. But this isn’t just any instructor telling her; this is _sensei_.

So she listens to his voice, moves the hanbõ with the flow of his words, accepts his instruction and his correction.

But there is a part of him that is not quite there – with someone else, someone far away and distant.

( _Sensei_ does not speak of Tamsin much, but when he does, his voice changes.  
There is something in it that reminds Mako of the little house in Tanegashima,  
of laughter and late nights being read to, and early mornings with rice porridge.

It is the sense of _family_.)

Yancy and Raleigh Becket are generally considered the best candidates out of this year’s Academy graduates. Their scores are good, their fighting skills solid, and they are Drift-compatible. While the Wei Tang are comparably suited to piloting a Jaeger, the Beckets have the slightest of edges in that they are young, American, and extremely photogenic.

“God, Yance, you’re mind’s a sewer pit!”

“And you’re thrashing around in it quite happily, Mr. Home-Run-With-Shelly-Nelson!”

“Mr. Becket,” Dr. Lightcap says, her voice cutting gently through the cheerful chatter, “If you’ll attend.”

Mako should not be here, but nobody tells her to leave. And so she watches as the neural connection is made and tested, and the Drift between the Becket brothers is confirmed: they will pilot a Jaeger with each other.

She envies them the opportunity to fight back.

(Sergio shakes his head that night when he and Dr. Lightcap visit _sensei_ to dicuss the tests.  
“Those two are either going to be amazing, or they’re going to crash and burn like nobody’s business.”

“Either way, God help us all,” _sensei_ mutters.)

When the Beckets _do_ crash and burn, it is hard.

Although not so hard as _sensei_.

“Fucking bloody young idiots,” he growls, pacing the floor in a way that Mako has never seen before. She watches the rigid line of his shoulders, the tension in every muscle of his body, caught between fascination and alarm at his anger. “They have the chance to do something that matters, have a connection others would _kill_ to have, and they’re going to fuck it all up on account of a jaegerfly.” He glances at Mako and visibly calms. “My God, I’d like to smack some sense into them!”

Mako doesn’t know what to do, what to say. She has never seen this kind of anger before, although she does not fear it in _sensei_. He has a hardness in him, yes, but he is ultimately a protector and a guardian, one who stands at the gate and keeps watch.

(She finds Herc sitting in the empty control room, with Max in his lap,  
staring out at the empty Jaeger bays. And thinks of _sensei_ , standing sentinel, alone.)

All the flight over to Hawaii, Mako wonders if Tamsin Sevier will like her.

It does not matter in a sense. _Sensei_ has given his promise and that is enough for Mako. And yet...

Tamsin Sevier is family to _sensei_ , in blood and in spirit, and that is important to _sensei_ and so it is important to Mako also. But she thinks of the Beckets and the jaegerfly who came between them, and wonders if there is room in such a family for someone else.

It is not until _sensei’s_ hand rests on her back as he says, “This is Mako Mori. I’ve been...looking after her,” that Mako hears the way his voice changes.

And _home_ is in the warmth of his approval and the pride in his voice and the way Tamsin’s eyes brim with tears as Mako bows to her, properly, and Tamsin hugs her tight.

(“Sometimes I think you saved him,” Tamsin says many years later.  
“He could shut himself away so easily. You made him care.”)

It is the sense of _family_.


End file.
